Chap. VI. 



FEARS OF THE BOATMEN. 



95 



Tung-a would present himself with a very grave 

 face, and inform me that the Lou-da (head boat- 

 man) was afraid to go onwards on accoimt of 

 robbers whom we were likely to meet during our 

 night-journey. We then held a little council of 

 war, consisting of the boatmen — including the boy 

 I have already noticed, who, by the by, gave his 

 opinion like a man — my servants, and myself. 

 After a careful examination into the matter, if I 

 saw their fears arose from natural timidity more 

 than from any real danger, I used to point to my 

 gun-case, and tell them not to be afraid ; and so 

 in nine cases out of ten our little council broke up 

 with a determination to go on. But it would 

 have been the height of folly for a solitary tra- 

 veller in a little-known country to despise warn- 

 ings of this kind, more particularly when the 

 unsettled state of the empire was taken into con- 

 sideration. The boatmen had the strictest orders 

 to awake me should any suspicious vessel make 

 her appearance, and my rest was frequently dis- 

 turbed during the night, often, no doubt, without 

 the slightest reason. They were also to let the 

 strangers know they had a " Hong-mo w-j in " (the 

 name by which foreigners are known in this part 

 of China) in the boat who had fire-arms with him 

 which he was prepared to use in case it was 

 necessary. From an intimate knowledge of the 

 natives in Chekiang, I considered these two pieces 

 of information of great value in preventing an 

 attack, for most of the natives here, unless they 



